Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto (
Urdu: بینظیر بھٹو) (b.
21 June 1953 in
Karachi) was the first woman to lead a post-colonial
Muslim state. She was elected
Prime Minister of Pakistan in
1988, only to be deposed 20 months later by the country's military supported
president Ghulam Ishaq Khan who controversially used the
Eighth Amendment to dissolve parliament and force an election. She was re-elected in
1993 but was dismissed three years later amid various
corruption scandals by then president
Farooq Leghari, who also used the Eighth Amendment discretionary powers.
Benazir Bhutto is the first child of deposed Pakistani premier
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (who was hanged by the Pakistan's military administration under irregular circumstances) and
Begum Nusrat Bhutto, who was of
Kurdish-
Iranian origin. Her paternal grandfather was
Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, a
Sindhi and a key figure in
Pakistan's Independence movement.
Bhutto attended
Lady Jennings Nursery School and then the
Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the
Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary Convent at
Murree. She passed her
O-level examination at the age of 15. In April 1969, she was admitted to
Harvard University's
Radcliffe College. In June 1973, Benazir graduated from Harvard with a degree in
political science where she was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa. She attended
Oxford University in the autumn of 1973 and graduated with a masters degree in
Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She was elected President of the prestigious
Oxford Union.
After completing university, she returned to
Pakistan, but in the course of her father's imprisonment and execution, she was placed under house arrest. Having been allowed in 1984 to go back to the
UK, she became leader in
exile of the
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), her father's party, but was unable to make her political presence felt in Pakistan until the death of General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
On
November 16,
1988, in the first open election in more than a decade, Benazir's PPP won the single largest bloc of seats in the
National Assembly. Bhutto was sworn in as Prime Minister of a
coalition government on
December 2, becoming at age thirty five the youngest person and also the first woman to head the government of a Muslim-majority state in modern times.
After being dismissed by the then-president of Pakistan under charges of corruption, her party lost the elections held in October. She served as the leader of the opposition while
Nawaz Sharif became PM for the next three years. In October
1993 elections were again held, which were won by the PPP coalition, returning Bhutto to office until
1996, when once again her government was dismissed on corruption charges.
She was charged and later cleared in a number of corruption cases in Pakistan. She has also been charged with laundering state-owned money in Swiss banks, in a case that remains before a Swiss court. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, spent eight years in prison although he was never convicted. He was kept in solitary confinement and claims to have been tortured. Human rights groups also claim that Zardari's rights have been violated. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has recently apologized for his involvement in the prolonged imprisonment of Zardari and the cases filed against Bhutto. Zardari was released in November 2004. It is alleged that they stole hundreds of millions of dollars by demanding 'commissions' on government contracts and other dealings. Over the past 10 years the couple have faced about 90 cases combined, none of which have been proven. Eight cases still remain, however Bhutto maintains that all the cases are politically motivated and says she is ready to face them. In 2005, Asif Zardari said in an interview on Pakistan Television that the military establishment had offered to release him and drop the charges on him if he agreed to quit politics and leave the country. However, Zardari refused to do so.
Recently an Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) report has been made public that Benazir Bhutto was ousted from power in 1990 as a result of a witch hunt approved by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. The AGP report says that Khan, GIK for short, had approved a payment of Rs.28 million to marshal 'an army of legal advisors' to file 19 corruption cases against Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari in 1990-92, the English daily The News reported on the 25th of July 2006. The AGP report, challenging the legality of Khan's actions, makes out Benazir as a victim of political vendetta
http://indiaenews.com/2006-07/16131-the-bhutto-saga-takes.htmIt was during Bhutto's rule that the
Taliban gained prominence in
Afghanistan. Bhutto and the Taliban were openly opposed to each other. According to the Taliban codes, as a woman she had no right to be in power. The Pakistan military, however, were insistent and Bhutto agreed to provide some support. She and her government have said that they only provided moral support and nothing more. The Taliban took power in
Kabul in September
1996. New evidence suggess that Osama Ben Laden provided Nawaz Sharif with huge sums of money in order to 'buy support' and destabilise her government.
During election campaigns, the Bhutto government voiced concerns over social issues of women, health and discrimination against women. Bhutto also announced plans to set up women's police stations, courts and women's development banks.
Despite these promises, Bhutto did not propose any legislation to improve welfare services for women. During her election campaigns, Bhutto promised to repeal controversial laws (such as Hudood and Zina ordinances) that curtail rights of women in Pakistan. However, during her two terms in power, her party did not fulfill these promises due to immense pressure from the opposition.
Her party did, however, initiate legislation during General Musharraf's regime to repeal the Zina ordinance. These efforts were defeated by the right-wing religious parties that dominated the legislatures at the time.
In 2002 Pakistan's current president,
Pervez Musharraf introduced a new amendment to Pakistan's constitution, banning prime ministers from serving more than two terms. This disqualifies Bhutto from ever holding the office again. This move by people who were themselves on shaky democratic ground, was widely considered to be a direct attack on former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif and exhibits the military establishment's insecurities about its own political power.
Bhutto is currently (as of September
2004) based in
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, where she cares for her children and her
mother, who is suffering from
Alzheimer's disease, and from where she travels around the world giving lectures and keeping in touch with the Pakistan Peoples Party's supporters.
Benazir and her three children (Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Asifa) were reunited with her husband and their father in December
2004 after a period of more than five years.
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Pakistan*
Politics of Pakistan*
Prime Minister of Pakistan*
:Category:Prime Ministers of Pakistan*
:Category:Pakistani people*
Pakistan Peoples Party*
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto*
Nusrat Bhutto*
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari*
Ghinwa Bhutto*
Fatima Bhutto*
Murtaza Bhutto* "When I first got elected, they said, 'A woman has usurped a man's place! She should be killed, she should be assassinated, she has committed heresy!'"
* "I had faith in myself. I had always felt that I could become Prime Minister if I wanted."
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Pakistan Peoples Party website*
Witch Hunt*
Bhutto website* Academy of Achievement Profile http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bhu0pro-1
* Academy of Achievement Biography http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bhu0bio-1
* Academy of Achievement Interview http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bhu0int-1
* Academy of Achievement Photo Gallery http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bhu0gal-1
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Bhutto on Al-Qaeda*
Interview*
Asif Zardari Profile*
Profile*
Bhutto cleared of corruption*
Pakistani opposition protests Bhutto case*
Musharraf blocks PPP rallies
